A generation ago, it was all about scoring for Al McClain and Robin Dixon.

These days? It’s all about assists.

It’s been 30 years since the two standouts shared a backcourt on some good University of New Hampshire basketball teams in the early 1980s. What they’re sharing now is the conviction to help underprivileged kids in Boston, whether those lives involve basketball or not.

“I just think anybody who’s ever dealt with basketball, and is able to go back and give back to their community, and build an environment for basketball and young basketball players, they should,” said McClain. “Many of these kids have a tough time going to the corner store for a gallon of milk.”

McClain, the all-time leading scorer in UNH history, is a counselor with the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, which offers safe activities and programs for 100 inner-city teens a day. Within that, he also runs his own developmental basketball and mentoring program.

“Al’s just been a humble person all his life,” said Dixon, who is married to McClain’s sister. “He’s always had time for other folks. There are times I have to remind him, you have to eat.”

Though their work only overlaps in certain areas, the two share a bond and remain linked together the way they were in the early ‘80s, when together they elevated a historically losing UNH program to a pair of winning seasons under longtime coach Gerry Friel.

“No question, it was one of the best teams ever at UNH,” said Scott Weitzell, UNH’s current director of basketball operations. “It was Gerry’s best team. They just brought a new era of basketball with the pace of the game and their scoring.”

Thirty-years later, they’re both still making their points.

Dixon, the school’s second-leading scorer, founded Project RISE (Respect, Integrity & Success Through Education) in 1993, a non-profit program that provides academic and life services to at-risk youths from the poorest neighborhoods in Boston, like Roxbury, Mattapan and Jamaica Plain.

For Dixon, who is on the faculty at Thayer Academy — and coached basketball there for 21 years — the motivation for Project RISE was the spike in gang violence he saw in the late 1980s and early ‘90s in Boston, where he grew up.

Armed with a $17,000 donation from Boston native and “New Kids on the Block” singer Danny Wood — who still serves on Project RISE’s board of directors — he started a pilot program, where 17 young males were brought to Thayer for academic remediation.

“Really, it was just to address some of the senseless violence going on,” said Dixon.

Because of Dixon’s basketball background — he was drafted in the fifth round by the Washington Bullets in 1983 and played professionally for two years in Europe — he had instant credibility with both the current Thayer students and new faces.

“It was, ‘Oh, he’s the guy who was drafted in the NBA. That’s so cool,’” said Jeff Gulko, who attended Thayer in the early 1990s and serves on Project RISE’s board of directors. “He started bringing in at-risk kids, kids who didn’t have the means to go to Thayer, but kids he knew if they were put in the right environment they had a chance to succeed. … It exposed me to how other people lived.”

Today, Project RISE aids hundreds of underprivileged kids — boys and girls — who undergo a rigorous academic program in the morning and take part in activities or field trips in the afternoon. There is also an academic summer program that helps struggling students position themselves better for the next school year.

In 2009, Dixon was honored with a national award — the People Magazine/MLB All-Star Among Us award — for service to the community. He oversees a staff of roughly 30 part-time workers and volunteers.

“From 4-o’clock until he goes to bed, he writes grant applications. He’s a one-man band,” said Gulko. “He still drives around in his beat-up Jeep Cherokee that’s missing three of four hubcaps. Every penny he makes goes right into his program.”

“We don’t have the kind of budget where I can have four or five folks on staff,” said Dixon. “I have to juggle. But I do enjoy what I do.”

McClain was back on the court receiving cheers a few weeks ago. His No. 41 at Boston’s New Mission High School (Hyde Park High School when he played there) was retired during a ceremony prior to a game.

“It’s a great honor,” said McClain, who finished his UNH career with 1,861 points, and was drafted by and played for the NBA’s Houston Rockets. “The coach talked to me (before that) and told me they were going to do that.

“This, right here, is a real good chapter for me,” he added. “I grew up with some great players. This is a chapter I can call my own.”

Both basketball stars-turned-mentors have fond memories from their days at UNH.

“Just the challenge of being a winner,” said McClain, asked what he took away. “My first year, we only won (seven) games all year. We just seemed to get better every year.”

He also found time to baby-sit his coach’s sons, Keith and Greg Friel, accomplished players in their own right. “Get a couple of extra dollars,” he chuckled.

“It was a great experience for me,” said Dixon. “Historically, the program has struggled quite a bit, but it was good to see the fan base excited. It was good to go into Lundholm and see the gym filled. … That’s one of the reasons I went there; I wanted to build something.”